The Internet includes a great number of computers communicably connected to each other. Information transferring and communication such as disclosure of web pages (home pages) that make use of an information dissemination system called WWW (world wide web), information exchange on news groups, and file distribution via FTP (file transfer protocol) in addition to e-mail intercommunication via e-mail, are performed over the Internet.
In recent years, electronic-commerce has also been carried out over the Internet. Further, the Internet deals with not only audio data that can be electrically distributed but also books requiring delivery by physical distribution. For example, a user refers to a catalog listing commodities in the form of a web page on the Internet and then purchases a desired commodity.
On the WWW, information (hereinafter called web data) processed into web pages is managed by a web server. When a user requests to browse a web page using a browser, the web server provides the user with the web data corresponding to the requested web page in response to the request. The user displays the provided web page on the monitor of a computer using software (browser) for browsing web pages, such as Netscape Navigator (brand name) or Microsoft Internet Explorer (brand name), or prints the web page on paper or the like using a print-output function equipped with the browser.
If the web data that the user has requested is a file described in an electronic document language called PDF (portable document format), a user at first downloads the PDF file from a data server arranged on the Internet and then displays/prints the downloaded PDF file using a dedicated application such as Adobe Acrobat Reader (brand name). Thereby the user obtains substantially the same output result as that displayed on the monitor.
However, such a conventional manner of outputting web data is not user friendly to deal with such data.
For example, a lot of pieces of web data generally have linkages to other web data in the form of hyperlinks, which often cause a complex hierarchical system of web data.
When particular web data is to be printed, a user may not obtain exactly the information required unless web data linked to that particular web data is printed.
Conversely, if all web data of the link destinations is printed, the printed results may include information unnecessary to the user, thereby wasting time and money. As a solution, a method has been proposed whereby only the web data a user truly requires is printed.
Further, when web data is to be printed on paper using a printer-output function of a browser, there is a problem that the printing result of the web data largely depends on the design of the web data to be printed.
For example, if a web page has white open-face characters displayed on a colored background is printed, the amount of ink consumption increases unnecessarily. Even if a background is white, letters in a pale color such as yellow have a low poor legibility and the printing result is therefore inconvenient for users.
When a user tries to directly read web data (a web page) displayed on a monitor, the user tends to comprehend the contents of the web data less when compared with reading the same web data printed on a medium, such as paper.
Especially, if the contents of the web data relate to logic (e.g., an academic article) and/or the contents are large in information volume, it is known that a user tends to comprehend the contents less. That's why the reading style of a user largely depends on the monitor. Additionally, lighting of the monitor and reflection on the monitor are considered as reasons.
If web data that a user wishes to use is in the form of a PDF file, downloading of the file from a server on the Internet requires a considerable length of time, thereby increasing communication cost. That boosts the cost to obtain the printing result. In addition, printing of a PDF file takes a disadvantageously long time.
The present invention is created with the foregoing problems in view. The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for controlling outputting of web data and a method for outputting web data, in which, when web data processed into a web page provided on the Internet is to be output from an output device, unnecessary web data is not printed and a user can confirm an appearance image of the output data in advance so that the user can obtain the output web data in a form convenient to the user.